First off, I apologize to my friends and roleplay partners who've been left hanging. Any desire to cancel old threads is completely understandable.

I've been struggling with a serious health issue the past several months. There was a long period where things would seem to improve only to relapse, delaying things further. All that aside, just wanted to let people know I'm around again and to contact me via PM or Trillian - ironsoldier, if anyone wants to get things going again.

Adrian sighed when Chigusa pushed her to get revenge and brought up the injury. "Brittany didn't do this to me, someone else did..." She admitted "well, she took a chunk out of my arm but that's happened before and isn't a big deal, I can still move it but... my knee was screwed before I even stepped in the ring. Anyone would have done this to me had I fought them instead. Go for the weakness and all that stuff..."

"And I want to fight the person who really did this to me even less." She added for clarification "Seriously, there's no point to it. She kicked my ass once, she'll probably kick my ass again." the cosplayer sulked, this was exactly the opposite of what she had come here to do, she wanted to yell and get some vengeance for a friend, not mope about how much she sucked.

"Don't think that way!" Chigusa admonished Adrian, "You can't go giving up whenever you get in some trouble, otherwise you're not gonna get anywhere! If things are getting tough... then you gotta change yourself. Adapt and become more suited to the environment around you." She looked up and down Adrian, feeling sympathy for the girl. She was battered and hurt badly, and Chigusa didn't want to see her spirit crushed either. She decided to try and cheer her up a bit.

"But still, I'm sure you're fine," Chigusa said, "You came all the way here to get revenge for Heather Dundurrland after all, even though in my eyes she doesn't deserve a friend willing to do this." Chigusa got up and walked over to Adrian. "Come on, let me take you somewhere," she said, "Anywhere you want. You seem like you could use a little cheering up."

Adrian winced when Chigusa admonished her for all but quitting wrestling all together, her other friends would probably think the same of her: Cecilia in particular would smack her around for thinking she couldn't beat anyone. "Sorry..." She said meekly as though it was a way to just get rid of the subject all together "Guess now you see why I didn't really want to talk about it." She admitted, taking to looking just down at her busted leg, even ignoring Chigusa insulting her friend

"Huh?" The cosplayer let out "Wh-where are we going? I-I can't go out like this! I can't exactly go to a bar or night club or wherever on crutches. Can I?" She added with the slightest hopeful tone in her voice, even if it was unintentional. Maybe being pulled around by the purple haired idol would help a bit.

"We should take your mind off these kinds of things," Chigusa said, "No, dancing is obviously out of the question... But I can take you someplace you've never been before." She grinned. "How would you like to see what goes on behind the idol performances? I can take you to the recording studio if you're interested." She seemed eager, but then remembered that not every person was as excited about those things as she was.

"Or if you like I'll take you to a nice bar I know," Chigusa said, "If you aren't interested..."

"Awesome!" Adrian yelped out, springing out of the chair as she took Chigusa's hands together, her eyes wide as her smile "To the studio!" the cosplayer declared, seemingly forgetting all about her injuries before she tried to take a confident step towards the door and pull the Idol with her: only to get a sudden bolt of pain in her knee "Owwwww..." she moaned.

Seeing Adrian jump up in joy made Chigusa really elated. Though Adrian's eagerness quickly transformed into pain as the cosplayer stepped on her bad knee. "Ah~ Maybe we should get you a wheelchair," Chigusa said half-jokingly as she came over to grab Adrian and keep her from falling. She quickly grabbed Adrian's crutch and propped the girl up. "I'm glad to see you're so eager," Chigusa said, "Let's go!"

She took Adrian out to the AFW parking lot, where her tiny red sports car was parked. It was only big enough to seat two, but it had plenty of speed and a lot of power. Mighty Mouse was the nickname westerners gave it. Chigusa took Adrian's crutches and put them in the trunk, where they just barely fit, and then sat down in the drivers seat. They were peeling out into the busy streets of Tokyo within moments. Chigusa drove with extreme daring, weaving through the traffic like it was nothing, barely even slowing down. It was quite terrifying to anyone who hadn't driven in Tokyo before, but there was a good reason Tokyo Drift was called Tokyo Drift. With the Mouse's engine humming smoothly, Chigusa gunned it down the highway as if she was trying to break a speed record, or trying to scare Adrian into wetting her pants. There was probably a bit of both. They quickly reached the Starlight Productions main studio, situated inside an enormous skyscraper owned exclusively by Thomas Drake.

"Whew! Made it!" Chigusa said, "Didn't that just make you feel alive Adrian?" She gave her friend a wide smile. They pulled into the underground parking garage where, after a few moments searching, Chigusa found her empty spot.

"I hope I didn't scare you too much," she said, secretly hoping Adrian was at least a little scared.

"Noo... crutches work. When I use them." The cosplayer said, nodding her head in thanks for the support as she hobbled towards the car, being extra careful as she got in the sports cars. While fast sports cars weren't designed with comfort in mind: they were built for speed, so she was a little nervous about getting into something whose power to weight ration could be seriously effected just by getting in. But when she did the seats were comfy and the ride felt smooth enough, maybe this wouldn't be too bad.

"You know this is actually a really nice car, was thinking if I could afford it to get a sports car myself but I don't even have a license yet and my Japanese isn't that good I mean it's getting better but that's not the poiiiiiiiiiint!!!!!!!!" Adrian rambled before Chigusa pulled out of the parking lot and started bombing it down the busy Tokyo street, her eyes frozen as blur after blur of potential head on collisions zoomed past.

By the time the two had arrived, Adrian was a pale shell of what she had been at the start of the journey, her face as white as a sheet while she shivered: legs pressed against each other as she was desperatley trying to avoid the ultimate embarresment: when she regained her senses she would have to get Chigusa back for that but for now she crawled out of the car, trying to pull herself up while squeaking [size=85:g29c8tpn]"Bathroom" Even Cecilia wasn't that suicidal on the streets, and even Adrian wasn't that suicidal in the ring. If she had the choice of working with her current knee injury or have the Idol work as her driver, she'd be back in the ring in a heartbeat.

Chigusa giggled at Adrian's look. She was totally terrified by Chigusa's reckless driving, but it wasn't like the idol always drove like that. She was quit terrified herself, and some of those close calls really got close to wiping the both of them out. But she wasn't going to tell Adrian that. She was a pretty sick driver after all. But she wasn't going to do this again unless Adrian really did something to piss her off.

"That's for saying my music sucks," Chigusa said to Adrian with a cute smile. She had gotten a little revenge on the rather annoying cosplayer now.

She led them towards an elevator. On the inside there were no buttons, but rather a card reader. Chigusa took out a card from her wallet and stuck in the reader, and the elevator beeped and hummed. They moved upwards quickly, though inside it seemed they were motionless. The elevator stopped after a few moments, the doors opening to reveal a hallway buzzing with people. Chigusa grabbed Adrian's arm to make sure she didn't get lost. They moved their way through the hallway, past people pushing racks of costumes, pages and writers and actresses all mixed together.

"They're filming one of those variety show right now," Chigusa explained to Adrian. They moved over to a side hallway that was much less crowded, and Chigusa led Adrian into a dark room.

"Here's the recording studio," Chigusa said, turning on the lights to reveal the soundproofed room and the extensive mixing set in front of them. "I spend most of my time in here," Chigusa said, "Practically a second home!"

Adrian gave Chigusa a cold glare as she staggered up, taking her crutches out of the trunk "That was like over a year ago..." She mumbled before being led around by the Idol.

"'Scuse me, comin' through, girl on crutches make way!" the cosplayer said as she was pulled through the crowd, still hobbling along behind the purple haired girl before they came to Chigusa's second home. It was... well it was a recording studio: soundproofed walls, huge set of equipment she didn't know how to use. Such a contrast to Eclipse's locker room "Wow, with how much you spend here it's gotta be hard getting time to train or relax." She tried saying, although it probably came out as more of a mumbled mess, the cosplayer felt really out of place in this building. This was the den of stars, idols and all that jazz, and here she was: a scruffy looking gaijin on crutches with her arm bandaged up. "So... you ever had to curl up in a sleeping bag here?" she asked for the sake of conversation.

"Luckily I don't have to sleep in here," Chigusa said, "Though sometimes I do stay really late. But we've got a really nice place to sleep in that's just down the hall."

She turned and opened the door, leaving to continue the tour. She stopped at another door, pushing it open to reveal what looked like a small apartment, with a big bed and a small kitchen and a tiny TV on a nightstand. "When I do stay late, I'm usually in here," Chigusa said, "It's actually pretty comfortable!" She closed the door and led Adrian down the hall some more, until they reached a much bigger double door. Chigusa paused for a moment in front of it, mostly for dramatic effect.

"And here, we've got the big studio," she said. She gently pushed open a door, revealing the backstage of a major show. It was still filming too, so there were people busy watching from behind, making sure everything was ok. It was a big variety show where all sorts of performances happened, most of which were comedic sketches (like SNL, but Japanese). The idol gently pushed Adrian inside and tiptoed inside herself, trying to be sneaky.

"We aren't really supposed to be here," Chigusa explained. The two of them made their way behind all the people, sticking to places where there weren't any eyes. The audience roared with laughter at a joke neither of them heard. "Here's where all the supposed magic happens," Chigusa explained, "Just watch."

The sketch ended, and suddenly the entire backstage exploded to life. People quickly burst out and ran onto the stage, removing the set pieces to replace them with others. The actors and actresses came backstage and changed costumes while makeup artists dramatically altered their looks. Pages ran around delivering scripts and drinks and helping with everything, as the actors and actresses tried to destress and memorize the lines to the next show. It was a massive flurry of activity. Nobody took notice of the idol and her companion. And it was all over within minutes too, as the next act began.

Chigusa turned to Adrian. "Pretty intense huh?" she asked, "Show business is still a business, and despite all the glitz we have to work pretty hard."